Cameron Hargreaves struck at the death to steal a point away from the grasp of Sutton United, ensuring the points were shared on New Year’s Day.
Ashley Nadesan’s second goal in as many goals gave the U’s the lead after 23 minutes when he calmly curled the ball beyond Marcus Dewhurst in the Aldershot goal, with chances for Ryan Jones and Josh Barrett seeing Aldershot Town go close to a leveller shortly before the break.
In search of a second goal, the U’s produced a number of opportunities for Lewis Simper, Jack Wadham and Will Davies which all went begging, and Sutton ultimately fell short in the end when Hargreaves struck late on to rescue a point for the Shots.
A draw to open 2025 sees Sutton drop a place to 13th in the Vanarama National League table, and will be looking to pick up their first victory of the new year with the visit of Tamworth in the FA Trophy Fourth Round on Saturday.
Two changes to the Sutton team saw Steve Morison tasked with replacing the outgoing Charlie Waller, who returned to MK Dons following the conclusion of his loan spell earlier this week, along with Ryan Jackson who went off midway through the second half against Barnet, with Dillon De Silva and Jeremy Sivi returning to the starting XI on the flanks.
A couple of early half chances for the visitors saw Aldershot get off to the quicker start to 2025, with Theo Widdrington winning a free kick midway around 40-yards out that Barrett opted to fire straight at goal, but his speculative effort went down the throat of Jack Sims.
This would be followed by what could be considered a very late Christmas present for the visitors, as some miscommunication at the back between Sims and Hayden Muller almost gifted Jack Barham a golden opportunity, but the U’s keeper charged out to rectify his error and produced a superb recovery challenge to prevent Barham from scoring from a similar distance to Barrett’s effort minutes earlier.
Some excellent defending from the hosts would follow to deny a handful of shots in quick succession from Aldershot, before the U’s produced their first real chance of proceedings shortly after the quarter-hour mark.
Christian Maghoma had to be on hand to clear Nadesan’s dangerous cross from the right flank, getting to the ball before Will Davies could react in the middle. This would lead to a corner which was cleared as far as Finley Barbrook on the edge of the box, who forced Dewhurst into an excellent outstretched save to claw the ball away from the top corner.
This would spark some momentum from the hosts who began to see much more of the ball. Lewis Simper drove a low ball on goal from distance that fizzed inches wide of the far post, before a number of shots were blocked in quick succession by Aldershot’s backline.
The hosts were playing some real nice stuff midway through the first half and seemed destined to draw first blood on New Year’s Day, something which did soon come to fruition. An inch-perfect cross from Simper was cleared as far as Nadesan a few yards in front of goal, with the U’s number 24 picking his spot and coolly slotting the ball into the far corner.
In search of an instant leveller, another opportunity would fall to Aldershot soon after as Barrett curled a cross into the danger area from the left flank, but Sims was able to awkwardly punch the ball away and ensure the U’s fresh lead would remain intact.
A period of few chances would follow as the hosts remained settled with their lead, staying strong against an onslaught of Aldershot pressure in their quest for an equaliser. The closest the Shots would come saw Jones drive a low effort inches wide of the near post after cutting in from the right, shortly before the interval.
There was just enough chance for a last gasp chance for the visitors before the break, countering at pace from a Sutton free kick that they failed to take advantage of. Tyler Frost led the charge and travelled the length of the pitch before laying it off to Barrett, but he was unable to make the most of the three against two opportunity as he scuffed his effort from close range to let the Shots’ best chance of the first half go begging, and ensure the U’s would go into the break a goal to the good.
Barrett would have a chance to amend his previous miss almost immediately after the restart when he was played through on goal, but he could only find the woodwork with the flag already up for offside.
This would be followed by a glorious opening for the hosts, with Simper’s bending free kick finding its way to Davies at the far post, but the U’s number nine was unable to keep his effort from a tight angle on target.
The second half had very much started in similar fashion to the first with Morison’s side – today coached by assistants Jon Meeney and Anthony Fenton – content with soaking up pressure. The Shots almost levelled the score shortly before the hour-mark when Sims had to be at his best to divert Barham’s close range effort away from goal, with the resulting corner being cleared as far as Frost on the edge of the box who volleyed high and wide.
Sutton would seem to find some joy from set pieces though, and an almost identical free kick from Simper to his earlier delivery would once again target Davies in the middle, who came inches away from getting the crucial touch.
Another set piece would see the U’s number eight nearly find the scoresheet himself moments later, with a third free kick in quick succession travelled through a sea of bodies and almost caught Dewhurst out via a deflection off Widdrington, but the Shots keeper was in the right place to get in the way of the strike.
This was followed by another superb chance for Sutton, who had once again grown into the game midway through the half. Jack Wadham did well to make space for a shot on the edge of the box and forced Dewhurst into a good save, before getting a finger on the ball in the nick of time to prevent Davies from tapping home the rebound.
Davies would almost turn provider shortly after as another golden opportunity for the U’s went begging. De Silva did well to keep the ball in play before Tyler French combined well with the U’s frontman to send him to the byline. Davies would then fire the ball across the face of goal, but there was nobody there to turn the ball over the line.
Sutton were firmly in the ascendancy, with Wadham dragging a low effort inches wide of the far post, shortly before Nadesan did brilliantly to pick out Davies in the middle, who struck a powerful half volley that flew just over the crossbar.
A tense affair would see Aldershot continue to put the pressure on though, and inspired a change in defence that saw Harry Ransom replace De Sllva moments before James Henry struck over the crossbar for Aldershot.
And Aldershot would see their best chance of the second half go begging minutes later, with Sims throwing himself in front of Jonny Stuttle’s first effort to expertly deny the Shots’ substitute, before getting a crucial touch on his follow-up.
Sims would unfortunately come off worse from his save though and had to be replaced by academy graduate Matt Kerbey with a few minutes to go.
Eight minutes of added time afforded Aldershot time to put a barrage of pressure on the U’s backline, and supporters would have got déjà vu from the eight minutes of time added on to the end of the Barnet match on Boxing Day.
And unfortunately history would repeat itself, with Hargreaves popping up at the death to fire a low effort beyond Kerbey to steal a point.
Sutton United: Sims (Kerbey 86’); French, Muller, Topallaj; De Silva (Ransom 75′), Barbrook, Simper, Sivi; Nadesan, Wadham; Davies. Subs n/u Okoli, Boateng, Vaz
Aldershot Town: Dewhurst; Maghoma, Widdrington, Frost (Mullins 90+1’), Barrett (Henry 68’), R Jones, A Jones, Scott, Barham (Stuttle 75’), Tetekj, Ellison (Byrd 14’ (Hargreaves 68’)). Subs n/u Van Strappershoef, Akpan. Booked: Byrd, Scott, Tetekj, Barrett, Frost.
Referee: Carl Brook
Attendance: 3,013 (580 away)
